it. For an entire summer, the finishedmural remained as an un-taggedstatement of unity for the neigh-borhood to see. The next year, wepainted two more murals; within threeyears, we’d painted five. These art-works became a source of pride. Littlekids walking to the nearby elementaryschool would stop in their tracks andpoint. Moms would say, “Somedayyou’ll get to paint one.”My students and I could have spenta fortune on security cameras. Wecould’ve attempted a large-scale publicrelations campaign and lobbied fornightly surveillance around the school.

However, we didn’t have the human
or financial resources to pull off those
solutions. Instead, we found a more
innovative solution by embracing the
power of limitations. Working within
the constraints of a small budget led
students to design a solution that
was more creative and sustainable. It
was a lesson in the power of creative
constraint.

Looking for the“Adjacent Possible”

The frequently heard advice “think
outside the box” conjures up an image
of the lone inventor in a lab creating
something radically different that
will rock the world. However, creativity isn’t always like this. Instead of
thinking outside the box, innovation
often involves thinking differently
about the box. Observe a child playing
with a refrigerator box. It becomes a
car, an airplane, a robot suit, and a
tunnel. Think of Minecraft or LEGOs.

They’re essentially variations on
stacking boxes, yet, their simplicity
and lack of options unleashes the
power of creativity.

Creative constraint happens whenyou run into barriers that force you tofind a new route. This process involvesproblem solving, systems hacking, anddivergent thinking. True, creativitycan involve creating something onan empty canvas or blank page. Butit can also stem from a roll of ducttape, some cardboard, and a series oflimitations that ultimately lead to abreakthrough.

Steven Johnson borrows the evolutionary idea of the “adjacent possible”
to describe innovation and problem
solving, noting that, “The adjacent
possible is a kind of shadow future,
hovering on the edges of the present
state of things, a map of all the ways in
which the present can reinvent itself.” 1

Instead of moving in leaps and
bounds, innovative thinkers often
move just beyond what they already
know by engaging in iterative
thinking. Innovation might involve
exploring one new variation on an
old idea or combining two seemingly
unrelated ideas, but innovators still
work within the box.

This view of creativity is often less
about bold new ideas and more about
tinkering. Every time someone mashes
up ideas or looks for hidden opportunities, they’re thinking differently
about the box. Most of the time, such
tinkering doesn’t work. But as people
push through various iterations,
they edge further along the adjacent
possible and closer to the solution.

Tinkering isn’t limited to any spe-cific subject area. When my studentsworked on a Tiny House project, theytinkered with the space, moving itemsback and forth and trying to figure outwhat worked. They played with theobjects, seeing if they could use thespace in a different way. Eventually, itclicked. Students used this same tin-kering approach when they worked onengineering challenges, as they faceda specific design challenge and testedout new ideas rapidly until they landedon a solution. However, students alsotinkered when engaging in blogging orwhen filming documentaries.

Seeing Limitationsas Design Features

The constraints that limit a product’s
design often become the very features that make a product creative.
Consider Baltimore’s Oriole Park
at Camden Yards. For years, cities
built donut-shaped symmetrical stadiums in the furthest reaches of the
suburbs. However, Baltimore had to
design a ballpark within the confines
of a quirky-shaped lot in its Camden
neighborhood. Instead of demolishing
the B&O Warehouse, they incorporated it into the outfield design,
creating an asymmetrical outfield
and opening the left-field view to the
city skyline.

We see the same trend with the
“Chopped”-style chef competitions,
where contestants develop creative
recipes because they’re forced to use
specific ingredients. To take a more
weighty example, the NASA engineers
behind the Apollo 13 launch had to
design an innovative way for the astronauts to make it back to Earth using
only the spare parts the crew members
had on that spacecraft.

As educators, we can inspire stu-dents to view creative constraint as apositive force for innovation. Whenfaced with a limitation, I use thesequestions with students to reframethe problem as a potential designopportunity:n What is a different angle to thisproblem? What are we failing to seeright now?n What hidden opportunities doesCreative constrainthappens when yourun into barriersthat force you tofind a new route.